God Fights for Faith

Today’s Reading:

• Genesis 18:1-21:7

Faith-Stretching Verse(s):

• Surely you wouldn’t do such a thing, destroying the righteous along with the wicked. Why, you would be treating the righteous and the wicked exactly the same! Surely you wouldn’t do that! Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right? – Genesis 18:25, NLT

Thoughts:
Since almost the beginning of time, one of our most grievous challenges against the existence of God has been the idea that perhaps the God who claims to be good isn’t actually on par with His claims.

We experience so much pain. We experience so much agony. Whole nations, and even continental regions, endure the most distressing times. Tragedy seems to strike good people as often as bad people.

And a good God’s supposed to be in charge of all this?

If only every person’s story were recorded from God’s perspective, the way Abraham’s is.

We already know that Abraham’s a man of faith. He trusts God. But that doesn’t mean that Abraham shies away from the tough questions. In fact, it is precisely because Abraham trusts God that He begs God to go easy on Sodom and Gomorrah, if only to spare fifty…no, forty-five…no, how about forty…or thirty…maybe twenty…or even a mere ten righteous people. Abraham believes God is good, and so He asks God, “the Judge of all the earth,” not to treat good people like bad people.

And do you know what? God makes it clear right from the beginning that He is as good as He claims to be. In this particular story, God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah because not even ten righteous people live within their walls. And what’s more, the few righteous people who do live there are rescued….Not that they turn out to be perfect, themselves (which I take as a note of hope for those of us who are seeking after God, even if imperfectly).

Of course, there are plenty of stories not only outside of the Bible, but inside of it, that give us pause and make us wonder all over again, “Do all people really get what they deserve? Or is God perhaps not perfectly fair?” But between stories like this, where the line between good and evil seems black and white and God is always clearly good, and God’s explanations elsewhere that perfect justice will not be completed in this complex world where we can’t always see either good or evil clearly, I’m willing to believe in Him. I think He’s trustworthy. I mean, He’s God. He has nothing to prove. If He were evil, why would He care what I thought of Him? I can’t vote Him out of office. So why claim to be good if He’s not? He has no need for falsified PR.

God cares that we think He’s good. He takes the time to tell us stories about how much He hates evil and loves good, stories intended to answer our most doubt-filled questions. The fact that He’s fighting like that for our trust—when He’s God and doesn’t have to—makes me trust Him even more.

For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.